Macros and host terminal

A macro is an XML script that defines a set of screens. Each screen includes a description of the screen, the actions to perform for that screen, and the screen or screens that can be presented after the actions are performed.

ZIETrans supports macro-based customization to speed up and customize the host application process. Macros can be used for the following functions:

As an action such as the play macro action or the perform macro transaction action. Playing a macro must be the last action performed for a Screen Event. For more information see Actions.
To connect or disconnect a particular host connection. For more information see Macros.
To generate an Integration Object. For more information, see Creating an Integration Object.
In a transformation. See Insert Macro Key for more information.

You can use macros to do any or all of the following functions:

Skip-screen: Skip-screen macros are navigational macros that move the user from one screen to another screen without displaying intervening screens.

Prompt: Prompt macros contain steps to request input from users during the host session. They can also set prompts from a user list. For example, you can use a prompt macro to ask a user for a user ID and password before logging into a host application.
Note: User list prompts can only be used in connect macros.

Prompt macros can also be used by developers to provide constant values or values obtained from global variables.

Extract: Extract macros contain events to extract host screen information as a string, as a list of strings, or as a table. For example, you can use an extract macro to connect to a directory-type host application and extract the results of doing a search in the directory.

Macros recorded or imported in ZIETrans Toolkit are saved in a ZIETrans macro (.hma) file. You can see the macros defined in your project by expanding the Macros node in the ZIETrans Projects view of the ZIETrans Toolkit.

ZIETrans provides three different editors you can use to view and modify ZIETrans macros, the Macro Editor, the Advanced Macro Editor, and the Visual Macro Editor. The Visual Macro Editor is the default editor for ZIETrans macros. When you double-click on the name of a macro, the Visual Macro Editor is opened. For more information about the Visual Macro Editor, see the chapter, Visual Macro Editor.

To open the Macro Editor, right-click on the name of the macro and select Open With > Macro Editor.

The Advanced Macro Editor is opened from the Macro Editor Overview page. For more information about the Advanced Macro Editor, see Visual Macro Editor.

Note: Support for the Macro Editor and the Advanced Macro Editor is deprecated in ZIETrans V2.0. While support continues for now, it may be removed in a future release of the product. This support is replaced by the Visual Macro Editor.